Progressive scrum implementation (?)
Hi guys,
I've been working as a PM (supposed to be a SM...) for the last 3 months with a team (subdivided in 3 teams: analytics, big data, data warehouse). Even though there are some requests that need 3 areas actively involved, most of the requests are for a single team to handle.
I know scrum teams are supposed to be crossfunctional, but right now the team is no interested in working that way. We are also getting lots of differente requests from lots of different sources, each with their own priorities. There's a lot of politics involved, so priorities and work agreements are not real unless they are endorsed by the c-suit.
As you can imagine, we are always running behind schedule, handling huge loads of pressure and re work. And the more I try to help with the administrative side of tasks I'm pretty much just facing angry users and negotiating new dates of delivery.
I'm quite frustrated beacuse I don't have a lot of support to implement new practices which I know could help. So, I would like to ask if you've faced something like this before: which steps would you recommed to implement so the team could start witnessing real improvements in their results and general wellbeing?
I don't quite understand if you have an actual Product or if you just have work that is associated to a specific set of skills. Remember that a Product does not have to be something that is sold. It is something that can be used by something/someone else for the purpose of achieving a goal. For the purpose of this answer I will assume that there is a product that requires all of those skill sets.
...with a team (subdivided in 3 teams:...
So you are working with 3 teams and not a single team. If it is possible to define products that each skill set can own, why not let them work that way? Let them self manage and split into 3 different teams, working on their own Products. Create Product Backlogs for each of them. There may be some cross team dependencies but those can be managed by the teams themselves. That way each team is able to progress on their work without being held up by the other teams. You will be able to produce more and the individuals will feel more empowered.
There's a lot of politics involved, so priorities and work agreements are not real unless they are endorsed by the c-suit.
You say you're "supposed" to be a Scrum Master. Supposed by whom? Is Scrum something which the C-Suite have endorsed? If so, why do you lack the necessary support to implement new practices?
Create a single product backlog containing all the work items coming in, and all the teams use this single backlog. Get a business representative to stand in as a product owner and prioritize the backlog. The teams then pull items from this backlog during planning. Team A pulls in the high-priority items that Team A can work on. The same with Team B, etc.
The teams described are component teams, specializing in a technology or area. Over time, you can move to cross-functional teams, but first, get a common backlog up, prioritize the backlog, and let the teams pull in the highest items from the backlog they have the knowledge to work on. Start from here and refine the Scrum implementation over time.
Hi Daniel! Thanks for your input!
We are a service area for other (IT and Business) areas, mostly with reports, repositories, ETLs, etc. So in that sense, we do deliver products but the level of complexity and resources needed to deliver each one varies a lot.
Yeah I've been working with the product backlogs per team. The company is trying to have all of us work with JIRA but the team is not very comfortable with the tool neither with working with scrum events. This translates in product backlogs not being refreshed or revisited and every manager (of eacch of the 3 teams) handling their own separate backlog (part of it in spreadsheets, or in personal notebooks, or by memory)
Writing this down, I'm thinking maybe I could try using other tool instead of JIRA that could help the team handle with more order and transparency their backlogs. Also maybe developing a JIRA training (i've tried hosting training sessions before...quite unsuccesfully. Perhaps through whatsapp messages with some essential activities and tips).
I don't know if there's anything you would suggest before or after trying these.
Thanks again!
Pierre, thank you very much! That input is on point, I see that focusing on having that backlog ordered and functional is a pretty good way to start.
Than you!